Camping
by imatallpotato
Summary: Ruby wanted the best for her girlfriend and she knew a great way for her to do so with the help of a little family secret.


There were twenty-six letters in the alphabet and to be perfectly honest, there were millions of ways to describe how much she wanted to hit her sister with a chair right now. But she bit back her tongue, rolling her eyes of how she was being ridiculous. But in her sister's defense, it was her fault for asking her for help anyway, she brought this upon herself by doing so.

"I'm just surprised you haven't even done it with Blake yet, you guys have been with each other for almost two years now." Yang scoffed, adding a bit of cold water and oil to the dough before stirring it vigorously with a wooden spoon.

Ruby pouted, "There's a reason why we haven't done it is all. You know what Blake has been through, I have to take things slow and I don't mind waiting."

Sure, it's been two years and so far, she could only hug and hold hands with Blake. She was able to hug her girlfriend months after they've started dating, don't get her started on how long it took for their first kiss to happen. Ruby knew she had to be patient, this wasn't something she could rush and this was the only time she was willing to slow down instead of rushing things like she usually does. She wouldn't force things onto Blake, she just needed to take things one step at a time. It was just recently that the raven-haired girl no longer flinched around her, although there were times that she would out of instinct but it has been a rare occurrence as of late.

Ruby could only sigh as she dusted the countertop with flour as her sister was mixing the dough, she cleaned the area by placing the dirty dishes in the sink, using a cloth to wipe off some of the mess they made. By the time she finished, Yang had placed the dough on the dusted surface she had prepared. The blonde cracked her knuckles, jerking her head to the side and she had to suppress the urge to cringe at the loud crack it created.

She was pretty sure that could've caused damage.

"So, what's next?" Ruby asked, rubbing her hands with flour as she took half of the dough that Yang handed to her.

"Well, the best way to describe is to show the dough who's boss and slap it around!" She beamed at Ruby.

She stared at her sister in bewilderment. Confused as to what the blonde meant by _showing the dough who's boss._

"What?"

The blonde could only laugh at the response, slapping the brunette's shoulder as she did so. Ruby could only shake her head.

"Yang, if I wanted advice on sex, I would have asked dad and not at the kitchen, because that's just gross." Groaning, Ruby did as her sister instructed, ignoring the sexual innuendos that the blonde was dropping.

"Whatever, after a couple of minutes of all that slapping, we add the cold water and stirred it more. We just need to knead the dough." Yang grabbed half of the dough and showed her the silver-eyed woman the techniques of kneading the dough, who mimicked her movements. "Magically, the dough changes and becomes so soft and springy. Simply put, the dough is giving in to you, tired of being slapped around the dough then realizes you're the boss."

Her hands stopped their movement of kneading the dough, an exasperated sigh emitted from her lips. Ruby had to breathe in deeply and exhaled slowly as she pinched the bridge of her nose. It would have been better to ask her father to help her out, she was beginning to regret asking Yang.

"I should've asked dad."

The blonde laughed, "Believe it or not this _is _how dad taught me to make this."

"You were _thirteen._"

"He knew what I was getting into."

Using a knife, Ruby cut the dough into pieces about the size of a golf ball just as her sister instructed. She rolled one of the balls between her palms and imitated Yang as she worked to get a nice, round, smooth ball.

Yang handed her a paper towel tube that was wrapped in cling wrap. She raised an eyebrow at the blonde.

"We only got one rolling pin and this is the best thing I could find. Just don't press down too hard. It's thick enough to use, but you still need to be careful," She shrugged as she took a bowl from the fridge.

She placed the bowl on the table, inside were chicken, pork bone and cured ham broth that had been set and cut into shimmering cubes of translucent gelatin.

From then on, they focused on their task, thankfully there was no more talk about sex and the conversation was primarily on creating Xiao Long's famous, secret family recipe Xiao Long Bao. It would have been easy to just use some store-bought dough, but it would have not been the same. She had no choice but to ask either her dad or her sister for assistance. She wished she paid more attention to the cooking lessons she had as a kid with her dad.

"Yang…."

Said blonde had her tongue out, carefully wrapping a half tablespoon of the filling around the dough. Satisfied with her work, she looked up at her sister, eyebrows raised.

"Did you remember to pack the spoon and forks, or at least disposable ones?"

"Uh…."

"For the love of- "Ruby groaned.

Thankfully, they had brought a pack of chopsticks for the trip. Considering Ruby wanted to make their family's Xiao Long Bao for Blake. It was her Uncle Qrow's idea when the topic of wanting to do something different for her girlfriend and it was a pretty good advice. It was also Weiss's idea to spend Christmas in Menagerie, out in the woods in a rented cabin away from civilization. It would also give them a chance to see where Blake grew up.

"Ta-da~!" Ruby sang as she walked towards their little campfire a stack of bamboo steamers in each hand, Yang following right behind her holding a tray of condiments and plates for the meal. She placed it on the blanket where most of the food was and placed the steamers carefully on it.

"I present to you…" Yang paused, for dramatic effect and had both hands holding the cover of two steamers and pulled back, steam rose, freed from its prison to revealing perfectly cooked steam buns. "The Xiao Long's famous Xiao Long Bao!"

At Yang's introduction was met with a fit of giggles from the former heiress, her hand brought up to her lips as she laughed. The blonde only stared at her curiously, one brow raised and watched as the ebony-haired girl rolled her eyes and then pointed at the steam buns.

"Xiao Long Bao." She smiled; her finger then pointed at Yang. "Xiao Long Bae."

Heat rose to the blonde's cheeks, her eyes wide before she bursts out laughing. She took a seat beside the former heiress and wrapped her arm around her, kissing her deeply. "That was a good one, Weiss"

Meanwhile, Ruby was busy placing a few steam buns on a small disposable paper plate and poured a bit of soy sauce on them, squeezing a bit of lime juice on it.

"Do you like spicy food or no?" Ruby asked, the Faunus only smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

"Whichever makes them taste better." Blake smiled at her silver-eyed girlfriend.

Ruby's cheeks turned slightly pink at the sight and smiled. Blake watched as her face turned a darker shade of red as she took a small plastic spoon and dipped it in a jar.

The jar was filled with what looked like a light brown liquid and a dark substance that rested at the bottom. She watched as the brunette carefully scooped up a small portion of said substance and added them on top of the steaming dumplings. After she finished preparing Blake's portion, she then added some of the condiment to her plate, compared to hers Ruby added a generous amount to hers.

"I don't know how much you can handle spice so I added a little bit of some sweet garlic chili sauce," Ruby explained, handing the plate to her girlfriend and a pair of chopsticks. "The sauce is homemade, we used a few of the ingredients from our garden and the others in the local market. Dad's been making it since we were kids and revised the recipe until he was satisfied with it then he taught it to us when we were in high school."

"Thank you, Ruby." She leaned in to place a soft kiss on the younger woman's cheek, causing the other to giggle. "You really went all out on this. What's the occasion?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to do something special for you." She smiled up at her. "Be careful though, it's hot."

Ruby picked up her own chopsticks, she took one of the dumplings, her palm placed beneath the bun in case it fell from her utensils as she blew on it to cool it down. Blake followed suit and took hold of her chopsticks and carefully picked up the dumpling and dipped it in the small puddle of sauce on the plate, she repeated the brunette's actions.

Ruby watched as the Faunus' facial expressions changed with every bite.

The first one had Blake scrunch up her eyebrows, the second bite made her eyes go wide, on the third bite her hand went to her mouth; eyes tearing up. Ruby's heart dropped at the sight. Was it that bad?

"Oh. My. God." She mumbled, mouth still full, but she still chewed. The juices from the dumpling dribbled down to her chin. "This taste so good, but- "

"But what?" She asked as she reached up with a napkin, she wiped the corner of Blake's mouth as she swallowed the rest of the dumpling.

"It's so good, but it's so goddamn spicy."

Ruby was confused at that; she was sure she had only put a small portion of the sauce. For her, it would have been like there were none at all. Before she could open her mouth, she heard a muffled shriek from the other two. She turned her head to find Weiss shoving the plate in Yang's hands as she fanned her mouth and reached for the glass of water.

Both sisters were looking at each other confused as Weiss chugged down the water like there's tomorrow. Blake, however, was calmer and more poised, but you could still see that she was also in pain, seeing as her ears were flat against her head.

"Damn, Weiss," Yang smirked, once she realized what has happened. "I didn't know you couldn't handle the heat."

Icy blue eyes glared at the blonde. "C'mon it wasn't that spicy."

"Yang, what is your definition of spicy?" Blake asked, pouring another glass of water for Weiss and herself.

"Probably…" She placed a metallic finger on her chin, doing the math in her head and pointed at the jar. "Half of that."

Blake's ears flicked at her words and were surprised by Yang's statement. Weiss looked somewhat terrified at her girlfriend and was also shocked at how much she can handle something so spicy, even half of the bottle of that dreaded chili garlic sauce. The blonde could only shrug as she began to eat the rest of the Xiao Long Bao on Weiss' plate while Ruby prepared another plate for the former heiress, this time without the sauce and just the soy sauce. Blake chose to endure the blazing inferno that is in her mouth with each bun, finding that it was tastier. Although it did cause her to sweat a little from the heat.

It was when the jar was all out of the sauce and all of the buns were eaten that all four respectfully sat next to their significant other on the ground, facing each other and wrapped in blankets. Each pair had a liter of ice cream on their lap.

"Where're the spoons?" Blake asked as Yang laughed nervously.

Ruby rolled her eyes and handed the Faunus a pair of chopsticks. "We might need to…be creative."

"You forgot to bring spoons and forks, didn't you?" Weiss sighed and the blonde nodded in turn.


End file.
